What is Blood Incompatibility? Why Does It Happen?

How Does Blood Incompatibility Happen?

Blood incompatibility can occur in two different ways. These are Rh factor and AB0 blood group incompatibility. If the mother’s blood is Rh-negative and the father’s blood is Rh-positive, if the baby’s blood is Rh-positive, blood incompatibility arises due to the Rh factor. During pregnancy, the blood of the mother and the baby do not come into contact with each other, but after some situations, the mother’s body becomes sensitive to the Rh positive factor. If the mother’s blood passes to the baby after the formation of antibodies in the body, the antibodies formed begin to break down and kill the red blood cells. After this situation, the baby’s heart may stop or other damage may occur. Even if the problem does not occur in the first baby, it can cause serious health problems in children born later. Conditions in which the maternal body is sensitized include:

Performing a blood transfusion (blood transfusion)
have been low before
ectopic pregnancy
having given birth before
Performing procedures such as amniocentesis, CVS
Often experienced complications related to bleeding during
Bilirubin is produced by the breakdown of the baby’s blood. Too much bilirubin causes jaundice. Jaundice occurs rapidly in newborns as a result of blood incompatibility, and babies diagnosed early do not have many problems with the treatment.

Who is at Risk in Blood Incompatibility?

AB0 blood incompatibility occurs between different blood groups. Some blood groups form antibodies when they come into contact with different blood groups. AB0-induced blood incompatibility can be seen between blood transfusion and mother-infant.

If your blood group is A, your blood has antibodies against blood group B, AB.

If your blood type is B, your blood has antibodies against blood group A, AB.
If your blood group is 0, it means you are a general donor, so you don’t have antibodies against other groups and you won’t have any problems donating blood.
If your blood type is AB, you are in the general recipient group. Your blood does not react to other blood groups, you can receive blood transfusions from all blood groups.
Therefore, blood groups of the recipient and donor are checked before the blood transfusion is performed. If the wrong blood group is transplanted, short-term effects such as fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, difficulty in breathing, low back pain and palpitations may occur.

Can Blood Incompatibility Be Prevented?

During pregnancy, antibodies can be produced in the mother’s body due to the difference in blood group with the transfer of the baby’s blood to the mother. By looking at the blood groups of the mother and father candidates during pregnancy, an assumption can be made about whether there will be blood incompatibility. For example, if the mother is O father and has A or B blood group, blood incompatibility may develop. AB0 blood incompatibility is very common in pregnancies. In this type of incompatibility, there is no chance to take early precautions as in Rh incompatibility, but the hemolytic disease seen in AB0 incompatibility does not cause serious health problems as in Rh incompatibility. After birth, babies are observed and treated for jaundice.

Blood Incompatibility Test

A test called the Coombs test is used to detect antibodies that attack your red blood cells. This test is used to screen your blood before blood transfusions or to detect blood-related health problems such as anemia. There are two types of coombs test as indirect coombs test and direct coombs test. Indirect coombs test is applied to detect blood incompatibility that may occur during pregnancy.